Gutierrez feels it was a “big achievement” for Sauber to get its C33 on track, adding: “I am proud that I was the first one to drive it. Especially because of all the rule changes, it is very complex but the team has done a good job.

“The feeling in the car is not what I have been used to. The engine and the power it produces and the sound are very different, but we will get used to that. It’s just a different characteristic. It was important to get some running today.

“These four days of testing are to see if all the systems are working, and that’s the most important. It is way too early to comment on the drivability. We will get there during the second and third per-season tests in Bahrain. We will get the electronics and everything else sorted first and I think we are going in a good way to achieve that.”

Giampaolo Dall’Ara, head of track engineering, said the team lost the chance to complete more mileage because of issues with the new 2014 car. “The main target today was to get the car on track and the team has done a brilliant job over the winter to accomplish that on time,” he said.

“Obviously with the significant changes there were issues that needed to be solved throughout the day. We have to understand and analyse those properly, which is why we couldn’t run that much today. What we did today was a good achievement for the team and now we have a lot to work on for tomorrow.”

Jack Leslie is a freelance motorsport journalist. He has been part of the Richland F1 team since the very start and made his debut in the F1 paddock for the website at the 2014 Austrian Grand Prix. Jack also writes for Car Throttle and RumbleStripNews, as well as running a popular blog.